"Functioning robots are all alike; every malfunctioning robot malfunctions in its own way."
It is with these words that Ben Winters transforms Leo Tolstoy's flesh and blood "Anna Karenina" into something of a mechanical animal.
Winters' robotic mashup "Android Karenina" comes out Tuesday via the same publishers who brought you the bestseller "Pride and Prejudice and Zombies."
Traditional servants and candlesticks have been replaced with automatons and fireless lights, made possible by the discovery of a miracle alloy known as "groznium."
While it may be easy for book fans to disregard classic mashups as the unwanted bastards of their favorite stories, a deeper look reveals a fusion of modern culture, technology and the best elements of the original literature.
Winters creates a Russia rife with metal-clad characters - namely, Class III personal robots that are assigned to every elite citizen when they turn 18. Kind of like iPhones, only bigger, Class III primarily function as sounding boards and confidantes while also sending text messages.
Fully realizing artificial intelligence, mechanics tailor each machine to its owner.
Android Karenina responds to Anna's every thought and emotion. She turns blue when Anna is sad, and purple to reflect her master's excitement. If fashion is the object, Android Karenina silhouettes her master in a glowing black.
The humanistic treatment of these robots highlights Tolstoy's discussion of the class system instead of obscuring it.
Though artificial, the robots' intelligence is anything but cold and metallic. In fact, their care and protection serves only to augment the humanity of Tolstoy's characters, not only in love, but also in jealousy, rage and paranoia.
Sparks fly at the magnetic train station where Anna meets the army officer Vronsky. Even though she's married, Anna can't help fantasizing about Vronsky.
Unfazed by the idea of adultery, Vronsky hotly pursues Anna with his wolf-shaped Class III in tow.
They plunge into a torrid love affair as Mother Russia experiences her own shudders of upheaval.
Risk is something the couple grows to know all too well.
Terrorist attacks in the form of emotion bombs, mechanical death bugs and black holes become more and more frequent across the land.
Winters transforms historical politics into a battlefield straight out of a science fiction novel. Rather than discuss Serbian borders, Russians worry about planetary invasion.
That doesn't mean that political philosophy is left out. Russian onion domes spy on the citizens and technology remains state-owned, subject to maintenance or confiscation at any time.
Though brainwashed by government propaganda, citizens can't help but be suspicious when their government's intense security measures fail to protect the innocent.
At the same time, Anna's husband consolidates his power in the higher branches of government.
Tolstoy's realism in his portrayal of human relationships and emotion remains intact while Winters replaces pastoral scenery with space travel, alien encounters and robots in a seamless science fiction style.
